You can now securely share Apple security keys

Sharing passwords securely isn't as easy as you think. If you want to do this, you'll need a specialized tool like 1Password that encrypts data during transfer. Sharing a password via messages or email defeats the purpose of sharing it privately: if it's available in plain text, it can be viewed by anyone. which, and you really don't want that.

With the new iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma updates, Apple is tackling the problem using its iCloud Keychain feature. This will allow you to create a group of passwords and access keys accessible to all parties in a group (provided they are all running iOS 17 or later). And because it's a separate group, you can choose to keep all of your truly private accounts in your own secure vault. Password sharing is done using iCloud Keychain's end-to-end encryption, so there's no risk of man-in-the-middle attacks.

As this is a group feature, it is designed to share multiple passwords with your friends or family indefinitely. It's not ideal for sharing a single password, but nothing prevents you from creating a group with another person to share a single password either.

The best use case would be to create a group for your family and another for your close friends (you can easily create and manage multiple groups). With your family, you can share passwords for your tax software, banking credentials, or streaming services. For your friends, this can be a good way to keep all your Netflix, Prime Video, or other shared streaming account logins in one place. It can also work well for sharing Google accounts if you're working on a group project together.

To get started, go to Settings > Passwords. Press the More button and choose the New Shared Group option. Give the group a name and add any members you want to include. (Each member will be able to add or remove their own passwords from the group, as they see fit.) Next, choose any login information you want to include in the shared group. Once you're done, press the Move button. Tap the "Notify via Messages" option and send the invites using iMessage.

You can come back and manage this group from the Passwords screen at any time. You can move new passwords to the shared group using the plus button. If you want to remove a password from the shared group, long press an access...